It's been a wild ride for Jim Mergard, a respect name in the chipmaking and processor design industry. Mr. Mergard enjoyed a successful 16-year stint with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), before leaving the chipmaker in late 2011. According toThe Wall Street Journal, Mr. Mergard's specialty was low power systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). He reportedly was the "brains" behind development of AMD's hot-selling "accelerated processing units", guiding them through the prototype phase.

Speculation is running wild regarding whether Mr. Mergard's expertise will be used simply to produce better SoCs for i-devices, or for a more novel project, such as an in-house computer central processing unit.

For years Apple heavily used and contributed to the PowerPC architecture. But some suspect it may have second thoughts about switching to Intel Corp. (INTC) chips. After all, Apple prefers to keep as much of its ecosystem as it can in-house, leaving the rest to anonymous unnamed suppliers. Intel's desire for prominent branding represents somewhat of a values conflict for Apple.

Jim Mergard has joined up with Apple [Image Source: The Tech Journal].

But only time can tell what possibilities might be looming for the new recruit.

For now it's just one more example of Apple's longtrack record of aggressively poaching its market rival's best talent. That poaching has led to numerous complaints over the years, but under the new leadership of Tim Cook Apple shows no signs of stopping the aggressive tactic.

I know I should ignore the idiots but, christ, the level of stupidity here has become detached from reality.Go read the damn QuickTime VR wiki entry, moron.

The earlier comments in this thread made a bunch of moronic comments about how Apple was copying the idea of panoramas from earlier cameras. The point of my comment was that QTVR, released as I said in 1994, was already in the business of making panoramas. I was not claiming that Apple was the first to do this. I WAS claiming that Apple was doing it before Microsoft, Android, Nokia, and all these other companies Apple supposedly copied from.

Furthermore QTVR included a stitcher which could stitch together standard photos. It could exploit special lenses, but did not require them.You're welcome to correct me if you have real evidence, but as far as I can tell, Apple WAS the first company to release commercial stitching software. Panoramas before 1994 either utilized special hardware or weren't stitched together, just manually aligned. Apple were followed by IPIX eighteen months later, then by more or less open software in 1998.

Finally, thanks to all the people who insist that I'm an idiot who knows nothing about this. I worked at an office in Apple a few doors down from Ken Turkowski, the guy who put QuickTime VR together, and spoke to him on a number of occasions; but of course that sort of inside knowledge is nothing compared to the deep insights that are given by the universe to the true hater, who no longer needs details like facts or dates to show him what really happened in the past.

"LOL, ya, I was thinking the same thing a few days ago when I saw a commercial for the iPhone 5 and its revolutionary panoramic camera mode... You know, the one they copied from Samsung?"

"If anything, Apple stole the panoramic camera mode from existing apps that have been out for a few years. Samsung certainly didn't invent a panoramic camera mode any more than Apple "revolutionized" it or stole it from Samsung."

"Exactly. I've been using Microsoft's Photosynth app on iOS for years now. It is the best panorama app by miles, and like many Microsoft apps it still isn't on Android."

"Take a pill man. We were just having a laugh at how its OK for Apple to copy, but not others' and how Apple spins things they copy as if they invented it."

"The Point was Apple copied it. And let's be clear you are not the judge of what makes a good post. You cant leave a single thread alone that portrays apple poorly... that alone is a problem."

......................

I was responding to posts like the above.And your response to my history lesson is "it's completely different if it's done on a phone instead of on a desktop"? You think this is a powerful rejoinder? So in your opinion, ANY software that used to be done on a desktop is completely novel when done on a phone?

Whatever. You obviously have zero interest in either facts or common sense.

You are just not getting it. Its not about being different on a phone or a PC. Its not a "desktop vs phone" software issue, Its editing software vs. a live camera. One requires you to take saved media and edit it and the other takes a pic as is from an actual camera.

Let me slow it down for you: Software is not equal to a camera. one is a set of instructions in a programming language and the other is a physical device with a lens and an aperture with the purpose of capturing images instantly. The two are no closer related than Photoshop is to a camera that can do its own red eye reduction.

And how do you respond to a comment like this that is so absolutely clueless?

There WERE cameras that perform panoramas using only " physical device with a lens and an aperture with the purpose of capturing images instantly". Here's a list of them.http://www.panoramicphoto.com/timeline.htm

Your camera phone is not on that list. Why? Because it doesn't utilize weird lenses, rotating mirrors, or any other unusual hardware. Instead it uses SOFTWARE to do the job. Software running the same algorithms that Ken Turkowski was coding up in 1994.I mean, christ, how ignorant do you have to be to imagine that a digital camera is not primarily a software device?

Of course its software. One is editing software on a computer, and the other is for an instant digital camera. Like I said, "The two are no closer related than Photoshop is to a camera that can do its own red eye reduction." (via software of course).

"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates